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Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Take This Crown And Shove It

Some push for our 2010 King of the Ring,huh?

Apparently, Sheamus has landed on the wrong side of somebody with stroke in WWE. Why else would a two-time former WWE champion and current King of the Ring be doing jobs to mid-carders on the company's flagship program as it heads into the biggest card of the year?

Most (not all) Kings of the Ring end up advancing their careers after capturing the crown. If getting squashed by Mark Henry, punked by Triple-H, then thumped by Evan Bourne is career-advancement, the lad from Dublin should go back to working security for U2. As recently as his feud with John Morrison, Sheamus appeared to be one of WWE's building blocks for the future, along with Morrison, The Miz, Wade Barrett, and Daniel Bryan, among others. But somehow, some way, Sheamus went from legitimate title contender to job guy in a matter of weeks. Those guys progressed, Sheamus regressed, and that doesn't happen by accident.

It seems obvious Sheamus is being punished by somebody for something. It's not just a matter of wins and losses, either. Sheamus has been made to look pathetic to the point where he can't even compete against Henry, Triple-H, and Bourne. His offense is nil and he's been helped from the ring post-match two weeks in a row.

Again, it seems to me there's more at work here than merely the ebb and flow of a young wrestler's career. Having no inside knowledge of what's going on with Sheamus, I can only speculate as to why WWE is going out of its way to embarrass him-but if you have a theory, we'd love to hear it.

WWE have been doing this for years. They will elevate a talent then throw them on a huge jobbing streak to (I believe) truly test how they react to it.

If their head goes down (as wrestlers such as Carlito have done) then they fail said test as they're only interested in their character's glory.

If, however, their head stays high and they continue to work at the same high level, then WWE will give them more in the long-term. At least that's my take on it as many (such as Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho and even HHH) have had periods where they've been booked similarly.